Fantasy/Paranormal · Romance · Young, New adult/College

Fear University – Meg Collett

26038790| GOODREADS | AMAZON | MY RATING: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥|

Goodreads synopsis: I’ve always known I was a monster, and I don’t mean some teenage vampire shit either.

My mother abandoned me when I was ten years old because I have a freakish mutant disease that makes me incapable of feeling pain. I bounced from one foster family to another because too many people like to test my medical condition in a game of “Try To Make Ollie Scream.” At sixteen, I killed a man for taking that game too far.

Two years later, I’m still on the run in Kodiak, Alaska. Here, I’m the most dangerous person around, until I come face to face with a creature that should only exist in folklore. The monster is an aswang, and I, with my medical anomaly, am uniquely qualified to hunt the beast that haunts the night. At least, that’s what the two scarred, mostly crazy ‘swang hunters tell me when they kidnap me and take me to Fear University, a school where young students learn to hunt and kill aswangs.

I arrive at the university a prisoner, but I stay because I finally find my freedom.

For once in my life, I belong. I’m needed. I make a home for myself inside the university masquerading as an old Alaskan prison. Something close to happiness warms my icy heart when I’m with my scarred, still mostly crazy tutor, Luke Aultstriver. For a murdering runaway like me, Fear University is a haven where I can put my skills to good use hunting monsters in the night.

But when certain truths come to light and even more lies are exposed, I fear that I, Ollie Andrews, am the worst kind of monster of all. And, maybe, they should be hunting me.

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My thoughts: First off, before I start to talk about the book itself. I don’t know if it is the authors fault or someone else but either way. Do not, I repeat, PLEASE DO NOT end the e-book under 90%. It makes you as an reader feel cheated, and that is not a good feeling to have your reader sit with at the end. Even more important so if the book ends on a cliffhanger. It happened with this book. Ended on a cliffhanger when I thought I had at least 10% left of the book to read. Not a good feeling at all. An quite frankly, it makes me a little pissed off and not wanting to read the second book. I will of course someday read it, because I need to know how it will end, but it will probably take awhile.

So what about the book itself? It is really good. Fresh and quite imaginative. Asuwangs is from an old Filipino folklore and I have seen and heard a lot about it from the movie world. But really not read anything. So I did not know exactly what to expect. But the story is exciting and filled with lies, mystery’s, really good characters and suspense. I like the dynamic and I like what the book is starting to build up. It’s twisted and you think you know how it all is put together but in the end that is just wrong. I do not, however, like Ollie that much. Well I like her fine, but for a girl who has been through everything she has been through, she is quite naive and really childish sometimes. And it does not get any better. I do hope she grow up some in the next book because if not, I don’t know if I want to continue reading.

I do not know the history with Asuwangs but have read a little about it now after the book and if I get it right, Collett (Which is not of Filipino descent) has done a great job with mixing the history with her line of the story and make it believable.

So as soon I have forgotten the “betrayal” I will read the second book and I really hope it is as good as the first one.

How do you feel about books ending before you think it will and cliffhangers?

Contemporary · Romance

Dark Horse – Jessica Gadziala

35228953| GOODREADS | AMAZON | MY RATING: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥|

Goodreads synopsis: He needed it.
The new job.
The new city.
The new life.
The second chance.
And nothing could stand in his way.
Except, maybe, the sexy as hell spitfire he found himself suddenly in competition with for a job he thought was his.
Amongst trying to begin again, office politics, and a case that wasn’t quite what it seemed, he needed to try to keep his mind off the spirited Espen, a task that was going to prove extremely difficult…

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My thoughts: This is the third book in the Dark series by Gadziala and so far, my favorite. It is funny, exciting and the characters, OH wow. Enzo has been a character that just has lurked around in the background in several other books. But you haven’t gotten a god read of him and at first I thought he was a bad guy. Well he was but not that type of bad guy as I first thought. And he is so much better.

And Espen. Ooo I like Espen. (Not the name though. In my country that’s a guy’s name. :P) She is one of those “Take no shit”, kind of girls who stands on her own two legs and can take care of herself. I think she goes a little too far sometimes but then Enzo comes in and bring her back to earth. And it is just wonderful.

However, I did miss some suspense. I feel that Gadzialas books have changed and there is no real suspense anymore. It is a nice story and all, but I also want that feeling when you can’t put the book down and hardly breath and you just want, NEED, to know how it will end. Did not quite get that feeling here.

Fiction/Science Fiction · Mystery/Crime · Romance · Suspense

Blue Smoke – Nora Roberts

114184.jpg| GOODREADS | AMAZON | MY RATING: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥|

Goodreads synopsis: Reena Hale grew up with an intimate knowledge of the destructive power of fire. When she was a child, her family’s restaurant was burned to the ground, and the man responsible was sent to jail. The Hale family banded together to rebuild, and Reena found her life’s calling. She trained as a firefighter and then as a cop, always with the end goal in sight: to become an arson investigator. Now, as part of the arson unit, she is called in on a series of suspicious fires that seem to be connected-not just to each other, but to her. And as danger ignites all around her, Reena must rely on experience and instinct to catch a dangerous madman who will not stop until everything she loves has gone up in smoke.

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My thoughts: I have said before that my biggest problem with Roberts books, is that they often start of slow. And we do not talk about just a couple of chapters but like 1/3 or 1/4 of the book is Slow. No difference here either, but this time it did not bother me as much. Maybe because it still happens a lot even though we have like 20 years to get through before we are the ace of the book. Or maybe it is because I was so prepared on the fact that it would start slow and I just need to have patience.

The story is great and as always I love all of the characters. That is something Roberts are very good at. Writing good and alive characters. And I love Bowen and how well he fit together with Reena and she is all thorns on the outside but he manages to sneak in between without getting stung to bad and that just makes it all so much better. But I have a huge problem with this book. And that is the red thread, the ending, the answers or what not I should call it. I knew it all from the start, and I mean all, through out the book but often thought for my self that, soon it will come an curveball. Soon something will happen and my thoughts will change drastically. It just can’t be this obvious. But yeah, it is that obvious which gave me an anticlimactic feeling in the end of the book.

To know it all, from the start off the book, and hope you are wrong, but are not, is just not a good feeling for me. And that only took of an star/heart in my rating of this book. That is how much it effected me. The story is still god and if I would have been prepared that it is somewhat clear water, it would probably not have affected me as much. But yeah, nothing to do about it now. Still a good book and I can still recommend it.

Contemporary · Humor/Funny · Mystery/Crime · Romance

Spotless – Camilla Monk

30197979.jpg| GOODREADS | AMAZON | MY RATING: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ |

Goodreads synopsis: Island Chaptal—nerdy IT engineer by day, romance novel junkie by night—just walked into her messy New York apartment to find Mr. Right waiting for her. No, wait…Mr. Clean.

A gentleman professional killer with a bad case of OCD and zero tolerance for unsorted laundry, March isn’t there to kill her…yet. He wants the diamond her late mother stole for a sinister criminal organization. Island agrees to help him find it, facing the kind of adversaries who dismember first and ask questions later. Good thing she’s got March to show her the ropes. And the guns. And the knives.

The buttoned-up Island is soon having a blast racing from Paris to Tokyo following the clues in her mother’s will, and for the first time, she’s ready to get close to someone. But falling for a hit man may be the very definition of loving dangerously.…

Spotless marks the beginning of Island and March’s ongoing adventures.

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My thoughts: This is the first book of an series that an friend have recommended me. I finally got to the first book and I do not have words for what I’m feeling right now. I’m in love. In love with March and his bad OCD. He is such an broken soul and my heart cries for him. There is an little story in the book (about how he was caught and thrown in prison as an teenager) and it made me cry. It is so bad. Maybe it effected me so much because I have been there, but no longer are. Not as bad anyway. And I can still understand and relate. I really like Island even though that she is a little stupid. Or no, not stupid, but naive is probably the better word. It was some bits in the book that I was just angry at her and her actions. Come one, use your head. You are suppose to be smart. But yeah, if you are a little naive maybe it isn’t that easy.

The story is exciting, speedy and really cliffhanging. I could not stop reading and read this book in one go. I only stopped to eat and use the bathroom. That is how good this book was. But afterwards my head hurt a lot and that I cried to the ending did not help. I can’t handle this long reading sprees as well anymore. I’m getting old. 😉

There is 3.5 more books in this series so I know I will get to meet them all again, but I have had trouble to decide if I should continue the series right away or wait a bit. I chose to wait. Mostly because if the second book is as good as the first, I do not want to start it right before a new work week. I need some free time if it will be the same again. That is how good this book was. 😀

Contemporary · Romance · Suspense

On the chase – Katie Ruggle

34006761.jpg| GOODREADS | AMAZON | MY RATING: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ |

Goodreads synopsis: After witnessing a horrifying crime, Kaylee is forced to flee to a small Colorado mountain town and take on a new identity. There she becomes Grace, a dog kennel worker trying to avoid the dangerously attractive K-9 Officer Hugh Murdoch.

When an accident leaves Hugh and his K-9 partner, Lexi, on desk duty, both are anxious for Hugh to heal. Until then, the highlight of his day is teasing the beautiful but mysterious new kennel employee. Their simmering attraction fuels a passionate kiss—interrupted by a sniper’s bullet. With targets on both of their backs, Grace and Hugh will do whatever it takes to stay alive…not realizing the most dangerous threat of all is hiding right in front of their noses.

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My thoughts: I’m having a super great start on the new year with an other really good book. This one is about Kaylee who has to run for her life after witnessing something she should not have witnessed. At her new town she meets Hugh. We met him in the first book “Run to ground“. This is an series and you should really read that book first before you read this one.

I really, really liked this. Much better than the first book in my opinion. But then again, I’m a sucker for story’s with strong women’s who have to run for their lifes, are terrified, but still meet that perfect guy, who sweep them of there feets and in the end “Saves” them.

Kaylee is a little of an “Princess” but only on the surface and when you really get to know her, she is an really down to earth person I just love. And Hugh. O my, he is funny, really funny and sweet and just great. You do know that I’m still talking about fictive people here right. Haha. But the characters are great and even if I did not like the first book as much as this one, it was nice to meet all the characters again and get to know them more.

Anyway. The book is great and I can strongly recommend it, but you need to read the first book first. 🙂

Contemporary · Fiction/Science Fiction · Romance · Young, New adult/College

Looking for Alaska – John Green

| GOODREADS | AMAZON | MY RATING: ♥ ♥99561 |

Goodreads synopsis: Before. Miles “Pudge” Halter is done with his safe life at home. His whole life has been one big non-event, and his obsession with famous last words has only made him crave “the Great Perhaps” even more (Francois Rabelais, poet). He heads off to the sometimes crazy and anything-but-boring world of Culver Creek Boarding School, and his life becomes the opposite of safe. Because down the hall is Alaska Young. The gorgeous, clever, funny, sexy, self-destructive, screwed up, and utterly fascinating Alaska Young. She is an event unto herself. She pulls Pudge into her world, launches him into the Great Perhaps, and steals his heart. Then. . . .
After. Nothing is ever the same.

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My thoughts: Well, I’m so glad to be done with this book and i dont think that is a positive feeling. I totally understand that young adult, tortured souls, great minds and ideas and that feeling that you will never learn to know the light and love you only read about in books. Come on, I have been a teenager to. But after reading this book I definitely feel that I’m more near a death of old age than my teenage years.

The book is about Alaska. A girl I really do not like and the whole story is told by another boy that feels like a narrator than a real person. The whole story is off and it was really the Colonel who made me keep reading because I really liked him.

I have trouble seeing the point with the book. Is it to discuss religion and afterlife? Friendship? School and education? Maybe it is about that life really sucks sometimes and you need to take it as it is and keep going forward. Straight and fast!

Mystery/Crime · Romance · Suspense · Thriller/Horror

No one left to tell – Karen Rose

11264393| GOODREADS | AMAZON | MY RATING: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥|

Goodreads synopsis: A car crashes in front of rookie PI Paige Holden’s home. And suddenly, she finds one of her pro bono clients dying in her arms—from a gunshot wound. With her last breath, the woman whispers cryptic words into her ear and hands her a blood-smeared flash drive.

Five years ago, State’s Attorney Grayson Smith put a murderer behind bars. But when Paige Holden shares the flash drive with him, its contents cast doubts on the conviction—and lead him and Paige into a world of blackmail, dark secrets, and a decades-long string of murders. An investigation they’ll survive only by trusting each other—and the truth.

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My thoughts: This is an extremely complicated story. And then a really nasty story to. Not in the way of blood and gore but in a way of politics, dark secrets and people taking the law in there own hands. There is a lot for characters to keep track on, a lot of information from different ways and it sometime gets confusing about which character knows what and do not know what. And it is not that easy for you as an reader to keep track on it. That is my biggest complain for this book.

However I do love the characters even though i do feel they are a little to superficial. Specially Paige. I love the backstory to Paige and it actually feels like it is another earlier book. I have however not found any evidence for it. I have however found that several people she is mentioning in this books have there one book in another series. Just so for your information.

Even though I feel that there is way to many characters to keep track of and that information could have been somewhat simplified and the ending is a little anticlimactic I still really liked it. It is a long book with over 500 pages but perfect for those cold winter nights. 😀

Fiction/Science Fiction · Romance · Suspense · Thriller/Horror

The Darkest Corner – Liliana Hart

32620320| GOODREADS | AMAZON | MY RATING: ♥ ♥ ♥|

Goodreads synopsis: The Gravediggers aren’t exactly what they seem. They’re the most elite of the world’s fighting forces—and all they have in common is that they’ve been betrayed by the countries they’ve died for. Because they are dead. To their country, their military, and their families.

Sometimes the dead do rise…

Deacon Tucker is a dead man walking. A former black ops agent, he was disavowed and stripped of all honor before being recruited as a Gravedigger. But his honor and good name no longer matter, because no one knows he’s alive, and he’ll never get the recognition he deserves. His mission is simple: save the world or die trying. And for God’s sake, don’t ever fall in love. That’s a rule punishable by death. The kind of death a man can’t be brought back from.

Tess Sherman is the only mortician in Last Stop, Texas. She has no idea how Deacon Tucker ended up in her funeral home, but she’ll eat her hat if he’s only a funeral home assistant. Deacon is dangerous, deadly, and gorgeous. And she knows her attraction to him can only end in heartache.

Deacon is on a mission to stop the most fatal terror attack the world has ever known—what’s known as The Day of Destiny—a terrorist’s dream. But when he discovers Tess has skills he can use to stop them, he has to decide if he can trust her with secrets worth dying for. And, most important, he has to decide if he can trust her with his heart.

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My thoughts: Okay book. I liked bits and pieces of it. But it was not an great book and frankly , i’m a bit disappointed. I have read like 13 books by Liliana Hart and for the most part I have really liked them. She writes characters who are fun, quirky and really lovable and you cant not love the male heroes. They are awesome. But there is nothing of that in this one.

Somewhat repeatable. Specially about Tess’s temper, read hair and white skin. About Deacons “undead” life and past. There is no real explanations to WHY Deacon is where he is and they all is a little boring. The only character that actually did anything for me was Eve and I completely loath her. So yeah.

I’m not even sure if I will bother to read the next book in the series. Since I have read so many books by Hart and know what she is capable to do, I feel thorn. Should I risk wasting time on another mediocre book or should I risk missing one great story?

Contemporary · Romance

Wait for it – Mariana Zapata

33288638.jpg| GOODREADS | AMAZON | MY RATING: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ |

Goodreads synopsis:If anyone ever said being an adult was easy, they hadn’t been one long enough.

Diana Casillas can admit it: she doesn’t know what the hell she’s doing half the time. How she’s made it through the last two years of her life without killing anyone is nothing short of a miracle. Being a grown-up wasn’t supposed to be so hard.
With a new house, two little boys she inherited the most painful possible way, a giant dog, a job she usually loves, more than enough family, and friends, she has almost everything she could ever ask for.

Except for a boyfriend.
Or a husband.
But who needs either one of those?

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My thoughts: I read “The wall of Winnipeg and me” (twowam) earlier this year and back then I did not know Zapatas books or writing style. I have had this book in my Kindle long before I even read “twowam” but there is always been something there who have stopped me from actually starting the book. But now I have read it and i’m so happy I finally did because O MY GOSH this book is good. It is even greater than “twowam” and I freaking loved that book.

This one is also an slow burn and wordy book but I feel I was a lot more prepared for it this time. There is also a lot more characters in the story and even two kids. And I freaking loved the youngest one.

The story is great and really believable. The characters is warm, funny and feels real. The only thing I feel that I need to comment on is that Dallas mood and personality do not quite match his backstory but that is okay. He is freaking great and I totally love Diana to. The relationship develops in a natural pace and I was not bored for one second. I can see how some readers can feel this book boring because it is not that much going on. But Zapata has an great ability to write an day to day story without at least boring me out and that is a valuable thing for me to like an author. Because I get easily bored.

This book gave me major hangover but it is so good and so worth it and you just have to read it. If you want. 😉

Contemporary · Romance

Eli – Jessica Gadziala

35905878| GOODREADS | AMAZON | MY RATING: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ |

Goodreads synopsis: Six years on the inside gave a man a lot of time to think. And a lot of time to plan. When I got out, I was determined for things to go a different way. I never wanted to lose control and rage out again.

The only way to accomplish that, though, was to shut it all down.
Complete disconnect.

That meant no family, no friends, no links to anything attached to the man I was before.

Of course the problem was, I never factored HER into my plans. And try as I might, I couldn’t find a way to shut it down, to disconnect from her.

I had a sneaking suspicion she was going to take all my carefully constructed plans and toss them out the window, was going to force me to face up the demons inside and confront the ghosts from my past.

Those ghosts?
They wore the faces of my family.

And a confrontation with them, yeah, I had a feeling it was going to show me that I had spent six years taking action on beliefs about the demons inside. Demons that had never actually existed in the first place…

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My thoughts: Beautiful. Absolutely beautiful book. And finally I got Eli’s story. He has been an character through out the series you just see but not really hear anything from. He is an tortured soul with the whole world and family on his shoulders. I was absolutely shocked when the ending in book three came and you got to learn that Eli is going to prison. My heart hurt for him and his family. And it certainly was no easier now reading the full story.

The really funny thing with this book is that it is somewhat different from what Jessica Gadziala usually writes. There is no real suspense. No Heroin who needs saving or Hero to do the saving. No bad blood, wars or fights. It is just clean, emotional, humanly raw stuff that the most of us has at some point in our life experienced. The pressure from family or society. The need for love and connection and finding you place in the world. And here it is really the Heroin who does the saving by just being there.

And the book is just that. Raw with a hint of humor. And I cried my heart out and it was so good. Loved the characters but I have to say that Peyton totally stole the show and it is not even her book. And I really looking forward to be reading hers.

I cant do anything else than recommend it to you. It is so good.